


Lovers' Spat

by sunaddicted



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), London Spy
Genre: Cats, Danny is a Saint, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Multi, OT4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 18:56:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5676910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunaddicted/pseuds/sunaddicted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James smiled cheekily, icy-blue eyes twinkling "Have I told you lately how adorably fluffy your hair is?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lovers' Spat

_Lovers' Spat_

Danny wasn't stupid: he noticed things even if his life wasn't dedicated to spying; especially when it came to the people he cared about, his mind would tune on the discrepancies bothering him and take in all the needed details to paint the bigger picture.

So, that afternoon he cornered Alex and James in the kitchen and quietly glowered at them, waiting for the two men to spill the beans "Talk" he intimated, crossing his arms across his chest to appear more imposing: he was well-aware of the fact he couldn't truly intimidate people like his lovers but maybe, letting them see how upset and serious he was, would bring some results.

James smiled cheekily, icy-blue eyes twinkling "Have I told you lately how adorably fluffy your hair is?"

Alex rolled his eyes at the other agent's attempt at deflecting the conversation with a play on semantics and sighed before caving in "What do you wanna know?"

Danny rewarded Alex with a grateful smile "What did you do to Q?" Both the agent's flinched slightly at his inquiry and their shoulders slumped a bit; Alex's face was slowly suffused by sadness while James' hand twitched nervously before closing in an angry fist "Why is he not coming home?" Danny knew that if there was a crisis, either James or Alex - if not both - would be with their Quartermaster, and when one of those situations happened, Q had always taken the time to text him.

Alex briefly glanced at James, carefully taking in his demeanour, before looking up at Danny again "There was a.. Disagreement" His voice hesitated on the last word as if unsure it was the right one to express his thoughts "Between James and Q"

Just brilliant: so, Danny needed to squeeze the truth out of the most reluctant and pigheaded of his lovers - it might have been easier to obtain blood from stones "What kind of disagreement?" he asked for details with as much calm as he could muster: he loved his relationship as it was, with the four of them all loving each other, and was afraid of anything changing in their dynamics; they functioned so well together because of the way they completed one another - they would fall apart if one of them walked away. And Danny would be alone and brokenhearted again.

James shrugged but kept his eyes on the floor as pristine as the pavement of a church "I.. I seduced someone for the job" Even if no one blamed him for doing what was necessary, it still felt a rotten thing to do: cheating on them for Queen and Country "And Q was angry because it wasn't necessary, according to him"

"Was he right?" Danny caressed James' cheek as Alex closed the space between them, their muscled and lethal bodies touching from hips to shoulders in a silent offer of comfort.

James grimaced "Not strictly but it speeded the mission up: I wanted to come home" he admitted.

"And Q was furious because he'd rather James took a couple of days longer to finish the job instead of shagging every willing lady crossing his path - his words" Alex added; he too had been upset by Q's words and found them excessively harsh but he could also understand his insecurities: James had a long history of being a womanizer and for him to be satisfied playing house with three other men sounded strange "He threw him out of Q-branch and threatened him with castration if he ever showed his face down there for something different than equipment outfittings"

Danny rubbed his forehead and turned his back to them in order to make some tea; his hands shook slightly as he filled the kettle with water and pulled the mugs out, casting a longing glance at Q's scrabble-themed one. Alex warmth came to envelope his back as steady fingers entwined with his own and his mouth lightly kissed the nape of his neck "He's been away for a week, probably sleeping like shit on that sorry excuse of a bed he has in his office and eating junk food while drowning his sorrows in tea"

James sat at the table "Thanks for making me feel better" he muttered, digits following the grows on the wooden tabletop.

"I wasn't trying to guilt you into apologising" Danny pointed out "I was just thinking out aloud" Just voicing his worries to get partially rid of their weight in his clogged lungs "I need to talk some sense into him: can you get me in Q-branch?"

* * *

 

When a swift knocking made itself heard amidst the hazy fogginess and algorithms clouding his brain, Q tiredly bid the visitor in and took off his glasses to clean the smudged lenses with the cuff of his jumper that he had been wearing and sleeping in for three days straight; it really was lucky that he didn't sweat much and that his personal odor wasn't particularly strong. He heard the door close and the chair in front of his desk - an uncomfortable contraption studied to make visits short and to the point - scraping against the linoleum "What can I help you with?"

"You could start with eating a proper meal" A familiar voice exhaled with a reproaching tone as a Tupperware box was gently placed in front of him, followed by a neatly folded napkin and a fork.

"How did you fucking get past security?" Q inquired, placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose to look at Danny, part of his mind regretting that one of his lovers was forced to seat in that horrible chair.

Danny smiled and threw a plastic card across the messy desk "James and Alex made me pass as you: I officially am the Quartermaster" A grin tugged at the edges of his mouth, lighting up his youthful features "I made your favorite: fried spaghetti"

Q's neglected stomach rumbled embarrassingly loudly and he hastened to open the box and dig into the proffered lunch "This is heavenly" And proceeded to ignore Danny's 'it's just fried pasta'.

"Oh my god, care to explain why did you starve yourself? You had a fight with James, alright, but that's not a reason for not taking care of yourself" Danny pointed out while retrieving a bottle of chilled water from his bag and offered it to the boffin.

At the mention of James' name, Q slowed down his eating and sighed heavily "So, this is what your visit is about"

"This is about seeing for myself that one of my lovers is still alive because he didn't bother swinging by home and tell me what the hell was going on!" Danny spat out, frustrated with Q's childishness "You let me think the absolute worst, you brat! And you're supposed to be the smart one"

"I'm sorry, Danny, I was just so angry with James"

"I understand, Q: never mind he does it for work, it still hurts everytime he comes home with lovebites we didn't give him and we make love to him feeling inadequate.. Because what do we do the day he decides that he likes women better than men? How can we compete when our anatomy is all wrong?" Danny extended a hand and grabbed one of Q's, whose fingers were long and splotched with ink and chemicals "Alex and I, we have the same fears but we trust the love James claims to feel for us it's real"

Q stared into Danny's eyes, teeth worrying at his lower lip "You don't have to see" he whispered, squeezing his eyes closed even if it meant replaying those images on his lowered lids. He hadn't snapped out of the blue and the reason he had given James hadn't been the entire truth; what had truly anguished and hurt him was how longingly James had unconsciously looked at the woman, a raven-haired beauty with pale skin and bright green eyes who had looked so similar to Vesper Lynd, that Q had been sure she had come back from the dead to haunt them "You only have to deal with the abstract idea of it"

"We hurt as much as you do" Danny squeezed Q's hand and nudged the Tupperware box towards him, not at all satisfied with how much Q had eaten "But he's hurting too"

The idea of James hurting because of him was almost unbearable to Q who had strived for all of his career to make 007 as safe and happy as possible "He looked at her as if he was looking at the sun"

"You mean he was squinting? Because that's what I do when I've got sunlight directly in my eyes" Danny joked, trying to lighten up the conversation and smiled with satisfaction when Q erupted in a boisterous laugh "I think you were understandably upset with James and saw your fears instead of what was happening"

It wasn't such a farfetched thought "What would we do without you?" Q sighed.

Danny leaned in and kissed their entwined hands "Are you coming home then?"

"Tonight. Now, get away from this place before security notices there are two Q running around"

* * *

 

"So, is he coming back?" James asked, nodding at the table dressed for four.

Danny turned around, giving his back to the stove and the simmering pan to smile brilliantly at him "Of course" he answered as if they all hadn't be afraid that Q wouldn't come back, leaving them to deal with the void left by the absence of his shining personality and brilliant mind.

James stood by the table, feeling useless in the spotless and organized kitchen; he wasn't as disastrous as Q at cooking, but he wasn't even that accomplished: he could manage simple dishes - breakfast dishes was how Alex called them - which was admittedly better than dumping some crisps on a plate and proclaiming dinner ready "Is he coming back for you and Alex?" It was a possibility - a horrible, gut-wrenching one.

"He's coming back for us which, in our case, happens to mean four men loving each other" Danny turned to a minimum the flame under the pan and strode to his lover, standing on his tiptoes and steadying himself on his broad shoulders to drop a kiss on his wrinkled forehead "Q loves you very much James" he reassured him.

James snaked his arms around Danny's thin waist, holding him close to his chest and breathing in the scent of his apricot-perfumed shampoo. He wasn't startled when another pair of lean-muscled arms embraced them: Alex had been mindful of making some unobtrusive noises before joining them; his calm and quiet presence often was the one offering most comfort to James.

"What, no hugs for me?" Q asked from the kitchen door, Pampuria happily purring and shedding hairs in his arms and Oliver protectively perched on his shoulder.

"I don't know if we want to risk it Q, you know how possessive your cats get when you're gone for a long time" Danny joked "But if you can get rid of the fluffy monsters, you can join us"

Pampuria mewled displeased as it was set on the floor, while Oliver gracefully jumped down from its perch without any prompting from its owner. Q cooed at them and bent down to scratch them between their twitchy ears before joining his lovers; Q bumped his nose against James' and tenderly kissed his dry lips, shutting the apology up before it could blossom on his mouth "I love you"


End file.
